Occasional Notes. 189 
history, as based on direct observation, of the sugar cane 
borers of the West Indies. More or less rivalry seems to 
exist between the various observers, as to the theories 
advocated by which to explain the liability of the cane to 
disease, or the sequence in which attacks are made by 
the various kinds of borers ; but however useful such 
rivalry may be in stimulating observation and experi- 
ment for the ascertainment of the truth, one cannot too 
strongly deprecate the introduction of personal pique in 
such matters, or the absence of that courtesy and respect 
which every worker in the field of Science, so long as he 
labours on the recognised lines of scientific method, is 
not only entitled to, but should receive, from his fellow- 
workers. That a friendly note of warning should be 
sounded, will be evident to any one who has had the 
opportunity of consulting certain recent numbers of the 
Barbados Agricultural Reporter, in which letters on 
the cane borers have been published. 
A considerable amount of confusion seems to prevail 
in connection with the cane borers. A certain amoun^ 
of this is evidently due to want of familiarity on the part 
of many of the observers with the various kinds of 
organisms dealt with ; again to want of comprehension of 
their conditions of life, the more especially as influenced 
by changes in their environment ; and yet again to hasty 
conclusions, and even generalisations, based on isolated 
facts. The result is seen in the lax use of the term 
"cane borer," when one out of several different in- 
sects is intended ; and in the confusion of the moth 
and beetle forms — directly as regards their larvae, 
and indirectly from the various perforations made by 
them. A further source of confusion, and a fertile one 
